Thursday, June 10, 2010

 

Premier's chief of staff tells court he did not recall BC Rail making profits before sale

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B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Anne MacKenzie is the judge in the Basi-Virk trial.
 

B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Anne MacKenzie is the judge in the Basi-Virk trial.

Photograph by: Bill Keay, PNG


VANCOUVER - The B.C. premier's chief of staff testified Thursday at a political corruption trial that he didn't recall that BC Rail had made an operating profit in each of the 21 years before the government decided to privatize the publicly-owned railway.

{Snip} ...

nhall@vancouversun

Read Neal Hall's report HERE
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Premier+chief+staff+tells+court+recall+Rail+making+profits+before+sale/3137824/story.html

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A comment too good to miss:
Skookum1 has left a new comment on your post "Premier's chief of staff tells court he did not remember ..."
 
[Justice MacKenzie] advised that everyone in court would be more careful about their facial expressions.

ROTFL. This reminds me of the taxman in the Popeye movie - "you smiled, that'll be a 50 cent smile tax...you laughed, that'll be a two dollar laugh tax....you frowned, that'll be jail time"....not an exact quote but close enough.

"You will not use your faces. You will control your faces as I see fit. You will not betray any emotion of any kind, except servitude".

At the Sublime Porte, the reception court in the Topkapi, in the days of the Ottoman sultans, merely breathing audibly was grounds for decapitation.

The demand for impassivity and silence in face of absurdity is a trait of absolutism and authoritarianism....I can't remember if it was Kafka who came up with that, or Vaclav Havel.

"Mr. Virk, quit nodding your head" is almost worthy of a Hall of Fame position in "famous quotations from British Columbia politics". 

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Comments:
It seems as if any question that gets proposed to Mr. Brown is either "I don't know" or "I don't recall" or "It might have happened or might not have". Give me a break.
 
Is "I don't recall" the BC equivalent of the US "I plead the 5th amendment?"

CC
 
So, my question is:

Mr. Brown, why are we paying you more than minimum wage? It seems you can't remember a bare minimum of fact...so indeed, let's pay you what you're really worth to the PEOPLE you serve. You do remember US...right?

So, let's see here...how about $6.00 Per Hour...training wage,(your own idea if I remember right) while you're in training to wear big people's shoes, big man's pants, and gain a memory longer than your arm.

*hint*...your real employer are those who pay your wages - not those you party with at the legislature.
 
It appears to me that this government is not only full of liars it also has a number of incompetent fools. For someone in a high position to not know what was common knowledge is pure incompetence.
 
Just to be clear here on whether BC Rail was sold or is on a long term lease....

Canadian National Ry. reported on November 25 from Vancouver, B.C., it has agreed to buy province-owned British Columbia Ry. It will pay the B.C. government $1 billion ($763 million in U.S. dollars) in cash to acquire the outstanding shares of BC Rail Ltd., along with the right to operate over BC Rail’s tracks under a long-term lease.

Source:http://www.nationalcorridors.org/df/df12012003.shtml
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In other words BC Rail was sold, and the 990 year lease isn't worth the paper it was written on because of the rate of interest that is being paid TO CN Rail, by the BC Government, in indemnity payments which is currently pegged at $550 million dollars!

Source: http://pacificgazette.blogspot.com/2010/06/railgate-tax-creditsits-indemnity.html
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".....We could, as of this very moment, actually owe CN Rail $600 million dollars. (and that amount, as our colleague Norman Farrell established recently, goes up by approximately $4 million with every passing month)"

Source: http://pacificgazette.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-legitimate-exactly-is-railgate.html
 
Does Martyn Brown remember ANYTHING, anything at all? Maybe ask him if he knows his name!
 
I saw a lady being arrested at a liquor store tonight. The scene was ugly and while she may have rightfully been arrested. She had my deep empathy as I thought about this trial and the gigantic implications it has raised.

I think this is a problem, maybe I am losing faith in this justice system so quickly that I am beginning to think they should let all the petty criminals go.

Maybe it is a bad comparison, but there it is.
 
Sleepless -

I think similar thoughts when I see coverage of the woman currently being tried for causing the death of the young girl while driving drunk.

The woman is obviously distraught, and though I'm not saying she doesn't deserve to be held accountable - I can't help but think how different things would be for her if she was Monty Robinson, who as an RCMP officer seems to get at least one free pass on killing someone drunk or sober each year............

This leader of the bullies at YVR the year before was deemed by the crown "unlikely" to be convicted of impaired driving causing death, so no charges were laid, while the deceased motorcycle rider didn't get a free pass to climb out of his grave.
 
She advised that everyone in court would be more careful about their facial expressions.


ROTFL. This reminds me of the taxman in the Popeye movie - "you smiled, that'll be a 50 cent smile tax...you laughed, that'll be a two dollar laugh tax....you frowned, that'll be jail time"....not an exact quote but close enough.

"You will not use your faces. You will control your faces as I see fit. You will not betray any emotion of any kind, except servitude".

At the Sublime Porte, the reception court in the Topkapi, in the days of the Ottoman sultans, merely breathing audibly was grounds for decapitation.

The demand for impassivity and silence in face of absurdity is a trait of absolutism and authoritarianism....I can't remember if it was Kafka who came up with that, or Vaclav Havel.

"Mr. Virk, quit nodding your head" is almost worthy of a Hall of Fame position in "famous quotations from British Columbia politics".
 
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